Respectful Maternity Care and Associated Factors among Women from North of Iran

Introduction: Respectful Maternity Care(RMC), as one of the fundamental rights of women, can be effective in creating a positive experience of pregnancy and childbirth and increasing women's desire to have children and give vaginal birth. Objective: This study aims to determine the RMC status and its associated factors among women who delivered at public hospitals in Guilan, north of Iran. Materials and Methods: This is an analytical cross-sectional study. Participants were 317 pregnant women in the postpartum units of public hospitals in Guilan province, selected via a non-random, multistage sampling method. The data collection tools were a questionnaire surveying sociodemographic/obstetric characteristics and the RMC questionnaire, which was completed 6-8 hours after delivery. Data analysis was done using independent t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation test, and multiple linear regression. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results: The mean ages of women and their husbands were 28.92 ± 5.79 and 33.03 ± 5.63 years, respectively. The education levels of 25.9% women and 21.5% of spouses were at the academic level. The mean total RMC score was 70.4 ±19.4. The domains of abuse-free care (75.5 ± 19.2) and timely care (66.1 ± 21.8) had the highest and the lowest scores, respectively. Women’s educational level (b=-3.62, 95% CI: -6.99 to –0.26, P=0.035), having a companion during birth (b=2.76, 95% CI: 0.05-5.48, P=0.046), and gestational age (b=0.77, 95% CI: 0.07-1.46, P=0.030) were significant predictors of the RMC score (R2=0.088). Conclusion: The pregnant women admitted to public hospitals in Guilan province receive a relatively high level of RMC. Healthcare workers, especially midwives, should pay attention to the identified factors in providing RMC to women.